The 2001 edition of MicroCineFest, Baltimore’s underground film festival,
took place Wednesday, October 31st through Sunday, November 4th. For the fifth
year in a row, MicroCineFest has turned on audiences to off-beat, D.I.Y., psychotronic,
substream films and videos from all over the world. This year’s festival
was the most successful one yet, with high attendance, plenty of positive audience
response, and better November weather than anyone could have hoped for.

Opening night (Wednesday, October 31st) consisted of a Halloween party at Frazier’s
On The Avenue, with live music from The Billroys, Precious, and Twin Six, plus
costume contests, film loops, and movie trailers.

Thurday, November 1st through Sunday, November 4th, the festival unspooled at
The G-Spot, an “audio-visual playground”in Baltimore’s Hampden
neighborhood. Running concurrent to MicroCineFest, the G-Spot hosted an art
exhibit of Greg Houston’s illustrations.

In the off-hours of the festival, participating filmmakers, judges, and staff
were treated to complimentary visits to The American Visionary Art Museum, a
duckpin bowling party, The American Dime Museum, and a sneak preview of the
film, NOVACAINE, courtesy of Cinema Sundays At The Charles.

After a Closing Night double feature of Arch Hall Jr. films from the early 60’s,
MicroCineFest 2001 wrapped on Sunday, November 4, with an informal awards ceremony.
Festival director, Skizz Cyzyk, announced the Audience Awards, of which the
1st Place winners receive screenwriting software prizes courtesy of MicroCineFest’s
Awards Sponsor, Final Draft. The rest
of the awards were announced by this year’s jury, consisting of: BURY THE
EVIDENCE director J. Greg DeFelice; Big Mama (Cine)fest creator/curator
Shayna Nickel; zine writer and film buff Jed Orndorff; all-purpose
film provocateur Gabe Wardell; Cashiers Du Cinemart editor Mike White;
and John Waters’ documentarian Steve Yeager. The jury was given
free reign to award any film, filmmaker or category they deemed worthy. The
awards are as follows:

THE LOW BUDGET AWARDS (given to the coolest film made for under
$1,000, and the coolest video made for under $100):
The Low-Budget Film Award: Jerome Gariepy’s CAT NUMBER SIX IS A COWARD
The Low-Budget Video Award: Jay Barba & Brian Farrelly’s LOSING YOUR
CHERRY

THE JUDGES SPECIAL RECOGNITION / “WAY COOL” AWARDS:
Best Cinematography: Francois Miron’s RESOVLING POWER
Best Sound Design: Walker Allen’s THE PERITONEAL SURFACES ARE SMOOTH &
GLISTENING
Best Puppetry: Jenny McCracken’s WATER FROM THE MOON
Best Choreography: Matthew Silver’s BEWARE OF THE HOT DOG PEOPLE
Best Fairy Tale: David Lilley’s THE PRINCE AND THE PEE
Best Western: Jay Edwards’ ESTA NOCHE WE RIDE!
Best Original Score: Michael Goodwin’s SMASHIN’ IT UP
Way Cool Super 8 Film: Roger Beebe’s THE STRIP MALL TRILOGY
Way Cool Infomercial: Rick Delaup’s THE DRUM BUDDY SHOW
Way Cool Objectivity: Nathan Bramble’s GHOST HUNTERS
Way Cool Documentary Short: Geoff Adams’ NOISE IN MY BACKYARD
Way Cool Way Cool Way Cool Experimental: Cooper Black’s THE INFERNAL LOOP
Way Cool Special Guest Appearance: Miss Pussycat in Rick Delaup’s THE DRUM
BUDDY SHOW
Special Jury Award: Thorsten Fleisch’s BLUTRAUSCH – BLOODLUST and
Lucy Weismann’s IN THE RED

LETHAL FORCE producer, Kent Bye accepted the film’s two awards on director
Alvin Ecarma’s behalf, stating that the film had been rejected by every
festival with “underground” in it’s title. Ecarma emailed the
following prepared statement from his hospital bed: “On behalf of the LETHAL
FORCE cast and crew I would like to thank the MCF jurors and the Baltimore audiences
for their kindness and recognition. MCF continues to be "thee underground
film festival" not only in Baltimore, but on the whole of the Eastern Seaboard
and all of us involved will do our best to live up to the expectations that
have been placed upon us, now and in the future. We hope to continue to produce
films worthy not only of your accolades but also of the Charm City Audiences
that have embraced the movie. LETHAL FORCE has played in a number of venues
and cities all over this great big world, but Baltimore will always be our favorite
city with the coolest people, keenest film festivals and, of course, the best
crabs in town. Thank you MicroCineFest and thank you Baltimore. We love you,
dammit.“ -Alvin Ecarma, Divergent Thinking Productions.

The jury made a judgment call on another work they felt deserved recognition,
Huck Botko & Andrew Gurland’s GRAMAGLIA, which was awarded "Best
Mockumentary". Botko's revenge-documentaries have been a favorite of MicroCineFest
audiences for many years, leaving many viewers wondering how he is able to legally
get away with the pranks pulled in his films. Like Botko's previous works, GRAMAGLIA
stunned and thrilled the audience, resulting in much discussion about it's authenticity.
When told of their award, Botko and Gurland responded with the following written
statement: "We appreciate the award for Best Mockumentary. Regretfully,
we cannot accept the award, due to the fact that we do not consider our movie
to be fake. Sincerely, Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland"